Sony Alpha a33 and a55 News

Sony has just announced a glut of new DSLRs, including the a33 and a55. These two cameras are the first to utilise Sony's Translucent Mirror Technology, which divides the optical pathway between the image sensor and the phase-detection auto-focus sensor. Among other benefits, this helps Sony reduce the size of the camera, though both cameras still weight around 430 to 440g without batteries and other attachments.

More interesting is the ability for both cameras to shoot full resolution photos at up to 10fps in the case of the a55, and up to 7fps on the a33, in Continuous Priority AE mode. Sony reckons these are the fastest continuous AF shooting speeds of any DSLR with an APS-C sensor.

Also included is Full HD (1080i) video shooting, and Sony's new mirror technology allows for quick auto-focussing while shooting video and viewfinder video preview in real-time. This does necessitate using electronic viewfinders, though, which won't please the purists out there. That said, the 1.15million dot resolution of the viewfinders should alleviate the pain somewhat.
Both cameras feature a three-inch, 921k dot resolution screen that swivels 270 degrees. The screens also have a 16:9 aspect ratio, emphasising the focus on video shooting in addtion to stills photography. Both cameras feature Sony's nifty Sweep Panorama feature, and can shoot at up to 25,600 ISO.

Where they differ is in the aforementioned speed and the sensor size: the a55 has a 16.2-megapixel sensor; the a33 a 14.2-megapixel sensor. The a55 also adds GPS for those with a penchant for geo-tagging. Both cameras will be available from next month.